Photo Credit: Irene Instagram
The K-pop community and fans of Red Velvet are asking Irene to step down after a bullying incident.
Digital Music News first covered the explosive revelations made via Instagram last week. A fashion editor and stylist didn’t name any names but used the hashtags #monster and #psycho when describing the abuse. Fans quickly deduced that Irene was responsible for the incident. The scandal and behavior are being labeled ‘gapjil’ in South Korean media, which means an abuse of power.
A petition posted on October 22nd calls for Irene to step down from her lead position in Red Velvet.
“If Irene does not leave the band, the scandal will haunt Red Velvet and deal a critical blow to the band’s image,” the petition reads. That warning is now gaining awareness, especially after the group was forced to cancel a fan meetup. After the incident went public and fans quickly deduced who the editor was accusing – Irene made a public apology for her behavior.
In her written apology, Irene says she’s sorry for hurting the stylist with her “foolish attitude and careless words and actions.” In the stylist’s original rant, she said she felt “completely stampeded upon and bullied by one person.
“I thought I had experienced all kinds of people and gave up on such matters having worked 15 years in this field, but I was wrong,” the stylist continued. She described her 20 minutes in Irene’s presence as “hell.”
“No hellos exchanged, shouting in my face with her phone in hand. Pointing her fingers while I stood and she sat in a chair, blurting out the words. Tears flooded out of my eyes after listening to the venomous words spewed out by her tongue. Why must I be humiliated? For whom and what? For money?” the stylist asks in her Instagram post.
As a result of Irene’s behavior, Red Velvet’s fan meeting scheduled for October 24th was canceled. A notice posted by the 2020 K-Culture Festival said the event was canceled “due to the artists’ circumstances.” Red Velvet was to serve as global ambassadors at the event.
Other fans are asking if the other members of Red Velvet have the same poor attitude as Irene.
Now, Red Velvet member Joy has started receiving hate comments on her Instagram account. Some are begging the star to watch her attitude and to “not follow in Irene’s footsteps.” Another says, “It’s been known that Seulgi and Wendy are the only kind ones in Red Velvet. Don’t inflict damage to their reputation and behave from now on,” the comment reads.
C’mon Irene!
FIrst, not bullying. She made a mistake one day and was snappy at someone. Probably tired.
Second, people wanting her to leave are crazy. Red Velvet are all 5 together.
“[Irene] skipped the greeting and sat right down as [she] began spewing insults at my face with her cellphone pointed at me.”
“The knife from [Irene’s] mouth did not stop as I have been stabbed multiple times by her words, and only tears rolled down my face.”
I understand you’re a loyal Irene stan. But please stop mocking the real victim (stylist) in this incident.
Verbal abuse is a form of bullying, plain and simple. Stop sugarcoating gapjil (abuse of power) and bullying.
Bullying someone for 20 minutes is not a mistake. It’s a choice.
She should seek the help of our great anti-bullying leader, Melania Trump. She seems to be doing wonders with the Bully-in-Chief.
On only-in-Korea story.
While Irene is probably wrapped a little tighter, RV’s stylists have been a dumpster fire for years. Too many examples to cite.
The “talent” dragging the support players to a higher performance is news? In Hollywood, in NYC?
RV is a top 3 GG, Irene is iconic, she aint’ going nowhere.
Irene must be a thick-face asshole to face the public again. Korean GP has vomited her already
This is some stupid stuff Irene is the most humble human in the group. She ain’t going anywhere and she has sincerely apologized for the damage caused don’t cause hate just because of an issue. She ain’t a god people make mistakes and reflect from it. I hope she stays strong and stop seeing articles and hate comments!!
“Sincerely apologized” because she didn’t want the audio evidence out
Irene is a perfectionist. she expects everyone to be perfect. she expects people to do there one work properly. when everyone that knows her and worked with her said she is a good person, why are people just jumping into conclusion because of one person’s problem. when you do a mistake, you will be called out. if you hate that then you should try your best. and this thing could be solved personally there is no need to make it public. this is like a kid’s fight she is not going anywhere. if you have problem with it then leave
So because she’s a “perfectionist” she gets to treat people like shit? You kpop fans are crazy. Does she deserve the response she’s gotten? No. This is the very first time something like this has been brought up about her so I don’t agree with the witch-hunt or treating her like she is evil personified. But there is no excuse for not being professional, no matter what is going on in your day there is no excuse for taking that out on innocent people. As a professional all the bs that didn’t happen on the job needs to be left at the door. If she couldn’t do that at the moment she should asked for time to get herself together. She is a grown ass women and should know how to handle and control her emotions by now. She is 30 not 20, she has been an adult long enough to know how to conduct herself. She want perfection and yet she was anything but in this situation. All she can do is learn from this and move forward. I hope she is okay in the future, she is talented but a bad attitude even if it’s every now and then it’s not gonna do her any good in the long run.
Irene is not a perfectionist. She’s abusive
Lmao at the delulu Reveluvs infesting the comment section. Irene is an abusive asshole. Periodt. Verbal abuse is not a “mistake”